Topic of the Day – Bonn Climate Change Conference

The 23rd meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP-23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in November 2017 at Bonn in Germany. The COP was presided over by the government of Fiji. This was the first negotiation held after the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Paris agreement. At the conference, rules were framed for implementation of Paris Agreement on climate change. The conference also ended with making a blueprint for ‘Talanoa Dialogue’. As per the developing nations’ demand, rich nations were brought on board for achieving the pre-2020 commitments.

The conference created a platform for all the member nations to display their actions and outcomes of pledges taken by them for fulfilling the pledges under the Paris Climate Change Agreement of 2015. The COP 23 laid down guidelines as to what has to be done by the rich nations to fulfil the pre-2020 commitments under the Kyoto protocol. The pre-2020 actions are existing obligations for a small group of developed nations and the rich ones to take actions for mitigation of factors leading to climate change. The post 2020 actions are for all the member countries to as per the Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement on climate change of 2015.

Talanoa Dialogue:

Talanoa is a traditional word used in Fiji and the Pacific to reflect a process of inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue. It is a year long process allowing the countries to make an assessment of their plans and actions, their outcomes of their climate change mitigation actions and define the measures they are willing to take to implement the Paris Agreement which is legally binding. The dialogue will consider the efforts of the nations in mitigation action and also the financial and technical assistance as the elements in the pre-2020 period under the Kyoto protocol of 1997.